SDCC News Roundup: 7/15

The first full day of Comic Con International has come and gone… and while the announcements have been starting to go fast and furious, they haven’t really ramped up to the degree that will be seen on Friday and Saturday…

The death of Will Eisner does not mean the death of his most famous creation, The Spirit. DC announced two major projects with the character: Batman/Spirit, hitting in December 2005 and written by Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke, and a new The Spirit ongoing series written and drawn by Cooke. Fans should not be concerned that DC is exploiting Eisner’s death – the deals were made before Eisner’s death and with his blessing.

DC’s Green Lantern panel tied in to the recent revamp of its Lantern franchise, with much of it focusing on the upcoming Infinite Crisis event. Interesting tidbits reveal the potential for a Green Lantern Corps ongoing, and the cryptic statement from Newsarama: “John Stewart plays a significant role in the JLA after the current arc. He then added, ‘After that, who knows if the JLA will be around’.”

DC revealed some more acquisitions for its CMX manga line, including a comic iteration of Kikaider, which will be polybagged and marketed to older readers much like other publishers. The October wave of titles includes Cipher, Kikaider Code 02, Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, Tower of the Future, Young Magician, and the December Slate includes Moon Child.

Marvel’s sole Thursday panel focused on the Ultimate universe. While no new projects were announced, one tidbit was revealed – Ultimate characters will not age, in order to keep the line friendly towards newer readers.

Tomorrow’s panels provide much more of an opportunity for breaking news and events, with a panel from WB Animation, the premiere screening of The Boondocks, and the main Adult Swim panel. Toon Zone will be there to cover all of these events shortly after they happen.